Reports of a meteor streaking across the western sky Sunday morning were followed by a large explosion that rattled windows from Reno and Lake Tahoe to Tuolumne County in California.

The explosion set off alarms at the Wal-Mart in Carson City and rattled nerves of residents and authorities who initially wondered if it was caused by an earthquake or a plane crash.

Layne Mantha said he was outside in Sparks when the explosion happened.

"It was about that time that a large meteor went across the sky," he said. "It might have been the meteor. Something to check because it wasn't very high in the sky when I saw it when I was sitting in my yard in Sparks."

RGJ reporter Martha Bellisle, said the blast rattled the windows of her home in Truckee, Calif., while RGJ editor Beryl Love said "if felt like a truck hit the house," at his home in the Galena area off Mt. Rose Highway.

Mark Maynard, who also lives in the south Reno area, said via Twitter:
"It sounded like something hit the side and top of the house and the floors shook."

Michelle Montoya in Reno tweeted this:

"Near Rancho San Rafael, it felt like something fell on my roof. A few neighbors were outside looking around too."

The U.S. Geological Survey had no indication of an earthquake on its website.

A deputy on foot patrol in Winnemucca reported seeing “a large ball of flame” streaking across the sky just before 8 a.m., according to Tracy Openlander of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.

“He described it as a weird, multi-colored comet, sparking and streaking toward the ground,” Openlander said.

She said the Pershing County also had reports of people seeing the ball of fire.
The explosion was heard in Winnemucca or Lovelock, but was described by residents from Reno to the Mother Lode area of California as “a truck hitting the side of the house.”

Lisa Mills of Fallon also saw the flash.

"This morning at 7:54 a.m., I was running and saw a huge flash of orange light appear suddenly about about 10 feet in front of me. It streaked across and disintegrated into a flash of white. I did not see exactly where it fell as it seemed to simply disintegrate. It literally looked like it simply appeared at about 50 feet above me. The flash was very bright and quite long in length. Amazing and a little bit scary!"